CornerStone™ ICP will facilitate the customer’s ongoing innovation in high-volume IC manufacturing and enable them to meet size, cost and performance goals

PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESIO), an innovator of laser-based manufacturing solutions for the micro-machining industry, today announced that the CornerStone™ ICP Series 2 UV laser drilling system has been purchased by a large semiconductor manufacturer for Integrated Circuit Packaging (ICP) applications. Compared to typical microvia drilling tools, the ESI CornerStone™ family offers lower overall cost of ownership (CoO) and improved accuracy with a reduced footprint, enabling production of vias for current and next-generation products at significantly lower cost. The CornerStone™ ICP Series 2 extends the CornerStone™ family to provide best-in-class via size and accuracy for the most demanding next-generation applications.

“With this adoption, the CornerStone™ system is positioned as the industry-leading tool for cost of ownership and capability,” said Martin Orrick, Director of Product Development, ESI. “We are excited about the recognition of the value our customers receive, and look forward to extended deployment of this solution to our customers.”

Laser systems are widely employed for drilling vias in organic substrate material used for ICPs, with via dimensions typically less than 100 microns in diameter. The CornerStone™ ICP Series 2 system is designed to enable semiconductor device fabricators to meet the most stringent requirements for the much smaller vias at higher accuracy.

Via Drilling Expertise

The CornerStone™ ICP Series 2 is part of ESI’s extended family of laser-based via drilling tools, delivering industry-leading precision and accuracy, which encompasses a wide variety of materials and via dimensions—both through-hole and blind. ESI’s technology delivers per-beam drill rates that significantly outperform other high volume manufacturing (HVM) laser drilling systems in operation today. The resulting productivity leads the industry and, in turn, significantly lowers a customer’s cost of ownership.

As the semiconductor and associated packaging technology moves to the next-generation of substrates to support new products and industries, the requirements for size, shape, accuracy and precision have become increasingly demanding. The CornerStone™ ICP Series 2 delivers unmatched via placement accuracy sought by ICP manufacturers.

Another important factor in the cost of ownership equation is tool footprint. The CornerStone™ family of tools has an overall footprint that is 25 percent smaller than typical laser drills in HVM production today. This significantly reduced footprint coupled with a marked productivity increase leads to substantial savings for fabricators as they build production lines for additional capacity.

Availability

CornerStone™ ICP Series 1 and Series 2 systems are now available for purchase, and are available for demonstration at ESI development centers in both the US and Japan.

About ESI

ESI's integrated solutions allow industrial designers and process engineers to control the power of laser light to transform materials in ways that differentiate their consumer electronics, wearable devices, semiconductor circuits and high-precision components for market advantage. ESI's laser-based manufacturing solutions feature the micro-machining industry's highest precision and speed, and target the lowest total cost of ownership. ESI is headquartered in Portland, Ore., with global operations from the Pacific Northwest to the Pacific Rim. More information is available at www.esi.com.

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